The Lady Eagles only took three runners to last Thursday’s meet at Meadow Hills and hosted by Iowa Falls-Alden, but those ladies did the best they could in a tough situation and made the most of it. Humboldt took the varsity team title with just 40 points, followed by Newman Catholic with 50, IF-A with 75. Aplington-Parkersburg with 91, East Marshall with 110 and Clear Lake with 159. Ellie Meyer of IF-A, and one of the top runners in the state, took first in 19:27.70.
Lea Friedl came home fourth in 23:21.40, and was followed on the team by Maddie Axtell in 27:43.90 for 35th and Alejandra Lopez in 28:19.70 for 42nd.
“The temps were above normal, around 90 degrees, with 60 percent humidity,” stated head coach Mike Herrington. “Meadow Hills is a forested nature reserve area, so it has a lot of trees and the runners are not out in the open air like on a golf course. They actually run the race on a nature trail. There were several traditionally strong teams there, and a good quality field of individual runners.”
He then talked about his team’s finishes. “Lea matched her time from last year here, and against some quality competition,” said the coach. “She’s in better physical condition this year, and wants the top 10 at every meet. Maddie was in her very first cross country race, and gave us a really strong run. She passed several girls near the finish and looked really fresh after the race. She seemed to still have a lot of steam left, which shows her potential for this season. Alejandra had a really good run, staying with Maddie most of the way. I think she was disappointed in her time, but she actually took one minute and 20 seconds off her time on this course. I like where this team is at. We could be very strong by late October, however it’s going to take a ‘get after it’ attitude.”
